Arrowslit/Fortification not working

[MH]

My Dorfs will NOT fire bolts from crossbows through arrowslits/fortifications, even if the enemy is on the other side, one "block" away. Yes, the have quivers, full of bolts.

[AlP]

Are they standing right next to the fortifications? They can't shoot through them from a distance until they have a high enough skill.

[MH]

Well, their skill is kind of bad, might be that, just take YEARS to train them... Thx 4 the advice i'll traing them a bit more and see if that makes a differance.

[𝕮𝖔𝖗𝖛𝖚𝖘]

They do shot.
https://steamcommunity.com/app/975370/discussions/0/3771239049938044626/

But yeah, you gotta train them. Takes few good years for them to master it.
Don't mix bolts. Make only iron/steel bolts, destroy or sell any other kind.

And remember, one dwarf will need/reserve something like 120-150 bolts.
If you have 10 marksdwarf you need 1500+ bolts (otherwise you'll get a pick bolts problem),
a good weaponsmith will make it in no time. They can and should be stored in multiple bins.
Understand this, when one dwarf will go to pick bolts from the bin, it will take him a moment (especially if he is picking one bolt at a time), this locks other dwarfs from that bin for until he's done.

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by MH:

My Dorfs will NOT fire bolts from crossbows through arrowslits/fortifications, even if the enemy is on the other side, one "block" away. Yes, the have quivers, full of bolts.

It's... a bug. :)

Well, it's likely several things, any of which could be a bug. :)

Set your crossbowdorfs on "Patrol" in that space in front of the embrasures. That is more reliable than posting them there if you're noticing them not being able to fire. As they move between sighting enemies, the second rank dorfs will get more chances to fire, too. (They will often not fire because they can't see from there or fire is obstructed/whatever. A confirmed bug, too.)

[𝕮𝖔𝖗𝖛𝖚𝖘]

Originally posted by natsukashinoneko:

That is bullshït. Just another of these cargo cult ceremonies.

This crossbow system is downright broken.

What else does it take to get rid of all these legends?

This angry person speaks the truth. The crossbow system is broken, and buggy at best.

*pauses*

*In dark narrator voice*

As for you OP, at the end of the day it is your choice, to either listen to the angry person and give up, or read DFwiki, workaround and follow the 'Cargo Cult'.

There is nothing one can do to get rid of 'all these legends'.
For every broken and buggy feature, the new ceremony is created.
The broken mead industry did not stop us, neither did royal jelly stockpiling in bins, nor dwarfs refusing to equip armor, gauntlets and high boots. And neither did... the crossbows.

In the end Cargo Cult found a way to make things work... for us.

[Colonel Sanders Lite]

Originally posted by 𝕮𝖔𝖗𝖛𝖚𝖘:

They can and should be stored in multiple bins.
Understand this, when one dwarf will go to pick bolts from the bin, it will take him a moment (especially if he is picking one bolt at a time), this locks other dwarfs from that bin for until he's done.

I recommend no bins for crossbow bolts (the ones you want to use anyways) for two reasons -

1: To avoid the issue you already mentioned. Cancellations due to multiple dwarves attempting to get bolts from the same bin.

2: If there's no bins, you can see at a glance how many stacks of bolts are in your bolt stockpile.



The only real issue there is that dwarves will then put reclaimed loose singles in the stockpile and take up a whole space. Personally, I just sell the loose singles though. I really don't want urist mccrossbowman to pick up a loose bolt, think he has enough ammo, and report for duty with just a single shot in his quiver.

[Colonel Sanders Lite]

Originally posted by natsukashinoneko:

That is bullshït. Just another of these cargo cult ceremonies.

You are *generally* right that the game is buggy. I can't even really fault you for being PO'd about it. That being said, there does tend to be actual workarounds that make things work if you care to do them.

Originally posted by natsukashinoneko:

sometimes you can have one million bolts and still the little morons won't pick them up.

This is *mostly* caused by a uniform system bug. When you change the uniform from no crossbow to crossbow, ammo is not assigned to the new uniform. You can work around this by following these steps.

Create a uniform for your crossbow dwarves and save it.

Disband any old crossbow dwarf squads.

Create a new squad and make 100% sure to make the crossbowman uniform the default uniform for the squad during creation.

Add dwarves to the crossbowman squad.

[Stafford's Bees]

You can make your crossbow pen a 1 by X corridor so they can't mill around away from the fortification. Even better, supposedly: make it a 2 by X corridor and line the back wall with statues. They're supposed to be able to dodge into tiles with statues but not actually end up standing there.

[Stafford's Bees]

Then you also want to build a drawbridge outside the fortification so you can block line of sight when they do the death stare thing because they ran out of bolts.

[ostlandr]

Originally posted by Colonel Sanders Lite:

Originally posted by 𝕮𝖔𝖗𝖛𝖚𝖘:

They can and should be stored in multiple bins.
Understand this, when one dwarf will go to pick bolts from the bin, it will take him a moment (especially if he is picking one bolt at a time), this locks other dwarfs from that bin for until he's done.

I recommend no bins for crossbow bolts (the ones you want to use anyways) for two reasons -

1: To avoid the issue you already mentioned. Cancellations due to multiple dwarves attempting to get bolts from the same bin.

2: If there's no bins, you can see at a glance how many stacks of bolts are in your bolt stockpile.

The only real issue there is that dwarves will then put reclaimed loose singles in the stockpile and take up a whole space. Personally, I just sell the loose singles though. I really don't want urist mccrossbowman to pick up a loose bolt, think he has enough ammo, and report for duty with just a single shot in his quiver.

There's a "More Bolts" mod that lets you build a workshop that gathers up those loose bolts and repackages them into bundles.

EDIT: Lets you create mixed bolt bundles also.

[ostlandr]

Originally posted by Colonel Sanders Lite:

Originally posted by natsukashinoneko:

That is bullshït. Just another of these cargo cult ceremonies.

You are *generally* right that the game is buggy. I can't even really fault you for being PO'd about it. That being said, there does tend to be actual workarounds that make things work if you care to do them.

Originally posted by natsukashinoneko:

sometimes you can have one million bolts and still the little morons won't pick them up.

This is *mostly* caused by a uniform system bug. When you change the uniform from no crossbow to crossbow, ammo is not assigned to the new uniform. You can work around this by following these steps.

Create a uniform for your crossbow dwarves and save it.

Disband any old crossbow dwarf squads.

Create a new squad and make 100% sure to make the crossbowman uniform the default uniform for the squad during creation.

Add dwarves to the crossbowman squad.

Should I be using separate squads for crossbowmen once my militia is big enough?

[Quake.]

Originally posted by 𝕮𝖔𝖗𝖛𝖚𝖘:

Originally posted by natsukashinoneko:

That is bullshït. Just another of these cargo cult ceremonies.

This crossbow system is downright broken.

What else does it take to get rid of all these legends?

This angry person speaks the truth. The crossbow system is broken, and buggy at best.

*pauses*

*In dark narrator voice*

As for you OP, at the end of the day it is your choice, to either listen to the angry person and give up, or read DFwiki, workaround and follow the 'Cargo Cult'.:synicle::brothersword:

There is nothing one can do to get rid of 'all these legends'.
For every broken and buggy feature, the new ceremony is created.
The broken mead industry did not stop us, neither did royal jelly stockpiling in bins, nor dwarfs refusing to equip armor, gauntlets and high boots. And neither did... the crossbows.

In the end Cargo Cult found a way to make things work... for us.:spoteye:

The Catsplosion Ceremonies were... Interesting >:3

[Quake.]

Originally posted by ostlandr:

Originally posted by Colonel Sanders Lite:

You are *generally* right that the game is buggy. I can't even really fault you for being PO'd about it. That being said, there does tend to be actual workarounds that make things work if you care to do them.





This is *mostly* caused by a uniform system bug. When you change the uniform from no crossbow to crossbow, ammo is not assigned to the new uniform. You can work around this by following these steps.

Create a uniform for your crossbow dwarves and save it.

Disband any old crossbow dwarf squads.

Create a new squad and make 100% sure to make the crossbowman uniform the default uniform for the squad during creation.

Add dwarves to the crossbowman squad.

Should I be using separate squads for crossbowmen once my militia is big enough?

And I recommend dividing crossbowmen into their own unit, as when you tell them to start training; if you have melee-focused dwarves in the same squad, they'll go to train with the squad if their particular schedule is set.

While it's possible to have crossbowmen and melee mixed together, for now it's easiest to keep them separate so you have less to micro-manage.

[Colonel Sanders Lite]

Originally posted by ostlandr:

Originally posted by Colonel Sanders Lite:

You can work around this by following these steps.

Create a uniform for your crossbow dwarves and save it.

Disband any old crossbow dwarf squads.

Create a new squad and make 100% sure to make the crossbowman uniform the default uniform for the squad during creation.

Add dwarves to the crossbowman squad.

Should I be using separate squads for crossbowmen once my militia is big enough?

I would say yes. Even when it's not, I would still say yes.

For ease of control, if nothing else. You probably don't want to be giving your crossbowdwarves the same orders that you're giving the melee guys.

Besides that, a mature fort really does need more than 10 guys in the army.

I *usually* end up running either 20 or 30 melee dwarves. These guys are professional soldiers.

I also usually run between 20 and 50 crossbowdarves. These guys are lightly armed militia that are just called up to man the defenses when we're attacked.

What you actually need is pretty variable though. Depends on what threats are around and how your defending against them.